


The Youkai Bride

by D_Morgenstern



Category: Japanese Mythology, Original Work
Genre: Ayakashi, Canon Lesbian Character, Canon Lesbian Relationship, F/F, Fairy Tale Elements, Female-Centric, Historical, Historical Fantasy, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Kitsune, Lesbian Marriage, Marriage, Same-Sex Marriage, Youkai, f/f - Freeform, onryo, some lesbian making out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 13:56:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3070667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/D_Morgenstern/pseuds/D_Morgenstern
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Youko has lost her family and standing in the wake of the formation of the Tokugawa shogunate. A fugitive in the countryside she comes across a wild fox hiding in an abandoned castle. The nogitsune however is a dangerous spirit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Youko had been traveling north on no premeditated route. Her feet only sought the end of the world. She would only stop when there was nowhere else to go. In a land unseen before of great valleys and stark stones, her knees ached, her ankles were swollen, and her feet bled. The crimson path was lost amidst mud and soaked grasses. Her journey towards death was devoured by life.

For her life was over. She had been taken to the stronghold of her kin’s greatest enemy. They would have sold her in their markets. She and all her kin would have been scattered across the Shougunate. Those of the Akiyama would never again threaten the shogun’s authority.

Death had saved her. As her cousins died in dozens from whatever plague haunted their steps, she had pretended to fall too. Afraid of disease the jailors had not even checked her neck for life. Her body had been thrown onto the burn pile, with all the other trash. She had only been saved by an errant storm, and the night. And now she would be the only Akiyama given the blessing to die as she wished. The others had been struck down by the gods and the rest would die as slaves, she alone was still free.

In these last weeks she may as well been a spirit of the land. She had been wan and lithe in her suffering. She could have been an onryō, one of those vengeful dead. Perhaps when she did come to the rim of the world she would wash all the bloodied clothes of her brethren in the stream and warn those poor slaves of their impending demise. Perhaps that is why she had been spared; the youngest daughter of the last Akiyama lord.

In the land of stones and wastes she came upon a lake. The rain never ceased, as fierce in this place as that in the Akiyama. Upon the shore however there were remains of an old castle. Close to being a phantom herself, Youko entered this vaunted place of the dead. The lake had flooded the lowest level of the ruins, making the hollowed shell a vault of the water than any human life. Youko found a small alcove however of dry floor and there retired to spend another night accompanied by the stars alone. .

In the state between wakefulness and sleep she was approached by a young woman. She raised her head from her knees and wondered where the dream would lead. She sat down next to her. She was a heavenly maiden wearing a kimono of the grandest sort of lady. Her hair flowed past her waist, her face was that of a fox with fine narrow eyes and a sharp nose. She peered at her in the wan moonlight with all the wondering of a predator. .

She was not afraid. Fear no longer lived in her body. She had nothing to lose. Not even her life. And seeing no terror in her, the young woman laid his head in her lap. .

She raised her hand in amazement. Her manner was all of a mighty beast offering herself. She knew this was not a woman, she was some sort of kami. What did she want? Was she beckoning her down to the shore where she may forever wash the bloodied clothes of her kin that would never, never come clean?

Her hands dove into the waves of her black hair. The woman sighed in happiness and with a smile sat back from Youko. With a small smile she untied her obi and allowed the layers to fall around her shoulders. Her small breasts hardened in the cold air, her nipples becoming rose buds in the chill. The kami pressed her bare chest to Youko’s, kissing along her neck. Youko offered that strand of shivering flesh to the kami, wondering if this was not the last hallucination of a dying mind. Her hand dared to warm themselves against the inhuman flesh. Her palms surveyed the curves of the kami’s body as the spirit pushed her hips between Youko’s legs, demanding entry. Youko opened, the spirit began to stroke between Youko’s thighs with her barely concealed genitals. As the heat began to overtake her Youko’s hands dropped to cup the woman’s buttocks, to give her an even more penetrating position.

And she felt a long, furry tail there.

Her mind screamed to wakefulness. She knew what this spirit was. She was a kitsune, and the wild sort that haunted abandoned places.

Her fingers trembled and her throat clenched. With all her strength she pushed the kami off of her. This kind of fox was very dangerous, and being seduced by one come to nothing but heartbreak. The nogitsune bared her fangs as she was rejected and Youko knew she had tempted death.

She was gone into the night. She fell out of a hole in the wall. The mud below was soft and cushioned her bones. She slipped however as she tried to find her feet. As she sank down the nogitsune revealed her true form; a dark fox of unimaginable fury. Her scream was swallowed by hers as the night convulsed around them in fury. Only her smaller size saved her as she lunged. She missed her by mere inches. It was enough for escape.

They broke across the countryside in a furious pursuit. Youko wasted no breath on screaming, she only expended her energy on finding the smallest spaces to squeeze through. Her attacker’s form was lost in the night but she could the breaking of the grasses and branches behind her. Her feet left a livid trail for her to follow. She was only saved by the appearance of a lone shrine on the horizon. .

She tried the gate and found it locked. She pounded on the gate and received no answer. With death bearing down on her she climbed the wall. She ignored the stone cutting into her hands as she vaulted into the sanctuary. As the spirit perhaps futilely tried to find an entrance into the shrine Youko succumbed to exhaustion. She fell into unconscious at the feet of the Kwan Yin.

And under the protection of the Goddess the nuns found her the next morning.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The interceding year.

She dared not speak. If she spoke she would reveal she was a fugitive for she spoke a far finer tongue than the peasant nuns. As they cleaned her wounds the sisters exchanged a few glances at her thin, filthy, white kimono, but said nothing as she was allowed to take part in morning prayers. She walked stiffly across the small yard that led to the dining hall, but found no paw print in the fresh mud.

The nunnery was pressed against a great crag, their shrine to their patron deity being the foremost building of their retreat. Youko ate ravenously and accepted a chance to bathe. They dressed her in one of their plain habits and she entertained a brief delusion she would be allowed to stay amongst the sisters. Her daydream evaporated however the next day when a great lady came to the convent. .

She was a plump woman dressed in silk. She spoke the precise dialect of the nobility and at her side had a short steward who informed Youko in peasant-speak she was to be this woman’s servant. Youko, for her part, felt indignant at the thought of serving a member of the Shougunate, but she knew what waited for her in the countryside. The nogitsune never let a sleight go. She would be hunted by that fox until she became one of the spirits herself, and perhaps after. She demurely bowed to her new mistress. She would take on this position, until she formulated her next step.

She was assigned the rather prodigious position of lady’s maid. As a woman with no family or name, nor any history at all, it was amazing Tsubame-dono take her into her personal retinue. The other serving women hated her. Why should this strange waif have prestige over them of good blood? Yet it became clear over the coming days the noblewoman was quite keen to have this oddity at her side. Tachibana-dono kept to his gentlemanly pursuits and let his wife run the household as she pleased. .

To further the hatred of her established retinue, the lady had the mute taught to read and write. Those who questioned the expense of a tutor were censured. Youko was given the name of “Rin”.

And she never forgot how much she hated the Shougunate.

Youko could never forgive her land being burned, her family enslaved, and her very name being taken from her. She longed to scream out of the indignities forced upon her, but she found her valued self-preservation above all else. She remained mute and her tutor found her apt and intelligent. Tsubame-dono found her agreeable and keen.

The smoldering of hatred burned her soul as she retained the outward appearance of compliant servant. She despaired to feel that aspiration of revenge consume her flesh until her soul would surely become nothing but an avenging spirit, but at other times she revealed in the cloying scald.

And in time she even forgot about the young woman she had met that night as she simmered in her outrage.

After more than a year had passed, when only scars remained upon her hands and feet of her vengeful wandering and her flesh carried no memory of starvation, she was called into her lady’s chambers.

“Thee are not stupid. And I doubt thee are really mute.” Tsubame-dono archly said after everyone else had been dismissed. Youko only pursed her lips at the presumption. The lady’s eyebrows rose as she added to her charge. “I will tell thee now; I suspect thee are a fugitive. But…I don’t care.”

Youko frowned and Tsubame-dono continued with her thoughts. “I know what’s living in that old castle, a wild fox. Indeed it killed my brother when I was only a child. I also know that night thee broke into the shrine, thee were trying to escape her. But here’s something _thee_ does not know; that fox left her mark of favor upon thee.”

Youko swallowed as the older woman’s eyes narrowed. “Yes. I will admit I know a thing or two about spirits. Tell me, have thee never wondered why she has never approached thee again?”

The girl startled at the thought. Tsubame-dono laughed at her. “Aye, it is became of my own servants! They alone keep her away. Thee are a good lass, you never leave the grounds do thee? Just as well, that fox take her revenge for thee refusing her betrothal. Youkai do whatever they do please. Nevertheless, this is no way to live is it? I have seen you, looking at the stars at night. Thee looks upon them like they are thy only friends in the entire world.”

Youko was struck with an urge to bludgeon the lady with a lantern at her smugness. She allowed herself a glower, and in this moment of confession she found her voice for the first time in more than a year.

“Are ye a witch?” her tongue stumbled over the strange words. She had long since learned the dialect but she had never formed the words in her mouth before. She was understandable however as Tsubame-dono tilted her head in amusement.

“Correct. From a long line of such women,” she preened. She tittered as if confessing nothing more than being from a family of lushes, witchcraft to her was something to laugh at. Yet why else would she keep something as specious as a Youkai bride at her side if she was not also damned? The lady leaned away to reach into a box. She withdrew something incased in velvet. .

“And I suspect thee also has something wicked in thy line.” She chortled as she revealed a slender dagger reclining in the velvet. “Mae of the bone of an ogre, lass.”

She drew her slender fingers down the narrow body of the dagger. “It would kill a Youkai even, if struck into the heart. “

She raised her eyes to meet Youko’s. “Kill her Rin. If thee slay the fox for me who killed my little, sweet brother, I will set thee free. I will even give thee a small fortune to start over with. I have waited many years for this opportunity.”

“My name is Youko.” She laid her hand on the weapon. As she picked it up she exposed the scars across her palm, cut into her flesh by the call of life.

“And I will kill her. For my freedom.”

 _And the chance to save my soul,_ from becoming the wailing woman washing clothes that would never come clean.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The marriage of the nogitsune and the disgraced noble daughter

For her bridal night Tsubame-dono gave Youko a splendid dress kimono of white with an obi of deep red. She had her hair dressed with camellia blooms. For a finishing touch she was doused in blood. Youko didn’t ask where the witch had acquired her final accessory, for surely a murderous spirit be able to tell the difference between animal and human blood.

In her garb she traveled down to the shore and with strength she had never had before climbed to the same alcove. She waited only an hour for her to appear, drawn in by the smell of blood. She remained in the shadows, well beyond the reach of any dagger.

“Why have you come?” She at last asked in her tongue, with all the cadence of the wind across the grass. Youko demurely bowed her head.

“I have killed the old witch. I am at last free to be with ye.” She explained and opened her hands in a gesture of supplication.

“All this time, you were a prisoner?” She narrowed his eyes. _And I suspect thee also has something wicked in thy line._ She shivered at the memory of the old woman’s words.

“Yes.” She reached for her and she took her into his arms. They were too close for any blade to come between them, and she kept the dagger hidden between her breasts. She was cold, far too cold for life, and she remembered how she had courted death. The wild fox looked down at her, moving the hair from her eyes. Her touch was what had reminded her she had wished to live.

“I…ye…” she swallowed. “Why…did ye come to me?”

“Because…you called.” She smiled, with death behind each fang. Youko inhaled sharply. Yes, she had called her hadn’t she? It was because she had wished to die. She had fallen in love with her because she had desired her. The fox had been the manifestation of her wishes. With a wretched pain stabbing her heart she faltered and dropped the blade to the ground. The fox hissed at the weapon and Youko covered her face in shame.

“I am sorry! I..I…!” She sat down in an apoplexy. She no longer had no idea what she wanted to do. She was as lost as the night she had found her.

“Why did ye kill the witch’s brother?” she asked softly.

“Because I was hungry, and he was insolent.” She said with perfect insouciance. Youko swallowed a frustrated scream.

“Then why didn’t ye kill _me_?!”

“I was going to.” She tapped his spidery fingers to her chin in thought, as if she had never even pondered her actions before. “Then, when I saw you, I didn’t want to.”

The youkai peered at her. “Your soul is dark. It’s unusual for souls to be clouded. They are the essence of life and are never destroyed. Yet when souls become corrupted thy become ayakashi. You are half-way to a vengeful spirit already, because your soul is waning.”

Youko stepped back. “I thought I become an onryō, for there was nothing left for me to do but mourn my family. But when ye touched me…and I knew what ye were…I found that was not what I truly wanted.”

She looked up at the sky that filled the voids in the ceiling. She looked up at the stars that the witch had called her only friends. It was true, for only they had stayed with her.

“I want to be able to let them go. I don’t wish for any of them to know the suffering I did! That is what I truly want.” She at last wept all the tears she had held back in all her agony. She continued to look at her eternal companions as her bridegroom enveloped her in her cold death-touch.

“If you would live with me, in my dwelling within this castle, I will show you how to free each one of them.” The fox gently grasped her chin so she would stop her fruitless stare at a distant dance that had no concern for her. She would be all those stars in the sky for her.

“For I know why I love you. It is because that light has not yet died, even knowing what sweet respite death gives.” She wiped her tears away. “And how your eyes shine with that light.”

And it was for this reason those of the Akiyama disappeared from the Earth. They were lured one by one by the same death that waits where spirits live, lured to the kingdom where there is no suffering. Their souls never waned, and there was not one soul left behind to futilely wash clothes in mourning. In time only one from the Akiyama was left upon the Earth, the sole memory keeper of her kin.

She never washed her hands of blood and she never mourned. For her deed, she remained the last gentle touch lost souls know last upon the Earth.

And perhaps she still lives in every abandoned place with her youkai wife.


End file.
